Market representations in industrial marketing: An experimental investigation

This study tests whether market representations influence marketing strategy. Through experimental design, service-oriented vs. product-oriented marketing strategies were compared according to the treatment of two types of market representations. Market representations that integrate the capabilities of an organization with the market (i.e. performative), and market representations that separate the market from the firm (i.e. ostensive) were presented as treatments. Results indicate that a service strategy is more likely when market representations are performative, and also, that a product strategy is more likely when an ostensive market representation was presented. For marketing theory, the experiment demonstrates that, under certain conditions, the form in which market views are privileged is relevant for business strategy. For industrial marketing, the experiment demonstrates that a service focus strategy is more likely adopted when market representations are destabilizing and dynamic; as opposed to product differentiation strategy which is more likely chosen when market representations are indicative and stable.